Panels at the 2007 event will cover topics such as accessibility, advertising, blogging, business issues, content, creativity, design, entrepreneurial concerns, mobile technology, legal issues, online video, open source, podcasting, programming and usability. A preliminary list of panels will be released in early October.

My main grip regarding the 2006 Conference was the lack of programming topics. There was no shortage of web 2.0, AJAXy entrepreneurs showing off their applications, and plenty of designers, accessibility evangelists and semantic code promoters. Jeremy Keith and Aaron Gustafson presented what was probably the closest thing I saw to a full presentation on programming with their presentation on DOM scripting. Jeremy also sat in on one of Tantek’s presentation and presented a really cool mashup he had developed. I also seem to recall Shaun Inman also participated in a joint venture where he got to show off some php skills with a redesign of Plazes.com (Plazes does not appear to be using that design).

So, why the focus of SXSW weighted so heavily towards client side layout and code? Business logic is a very important part of “Interactive Design”. Without parsing engines, how useful are Microformats? How about RSS? Without server-side code, how do you do web 2.0?

I would like to see more sessions that focus on server-side development. Here are some suggestions:

• The Framework Olympics – Four popular frameworks go head to head. Django, RoR, CakePHP and (prepare for backlash from open-source community) ASP.NET.
• Subversion for noobies.
• Communication Skills for Coders – How to get a word in edgewise when in a room full of power-hungry entrepreneurs, touchy-feely designers, and loud mouthed marketers.
• Rapid Development Skills – You don’t need a framework.

Just a few ideas.

But, an equally important factor behind the growth of SXSW is the growth and support of the devoted community that follows the event. As always, we welcome your suggestions about the website and about all other aspects of SXSW Interactive. Beginning next week, you will be able to give feedback on 2007 panel proposals via a special online interface.

Perhaps I will submit some of mine.

One Year Ago

In April 2005 my wife and I attended a U2 concert in Denver, Colorado. If you’ve never seen U2 live, it’s worth whatever you have to pay! Also, this was prior to the birth of my daughter. My band, Reagan Administration was gigging on a regular basis playing classic and modern rock covers. I had started my current position at American State Bank where I was developing with ASP and managing both the internet and intranet websites.

Five Years Ago

In April 2001 I was not yet married, but had been dating my the lady who is now my wife for about a month. We were engaged a few months later! The band was called 100 Love Sonnets (later named Meltdown Morning, then Violet i, and ultimately Hi Fi Collective) and was playing original music all over Texas. I was working at South Plains College in the Commercial Music Department teaching Bass Guitar lessons and Rock Ensemble class. That job was probably one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had! I also began building websites for the first time this year using a red G3 iMac and Dreamweaver MX WYSIWYG!

Ten Years Ago

April 1996! That seems like forever ago! I was 25 years old, skinny, and I played in a band called Flywater Washington with my friends Tim Schoenhals, Scott Crader and Alan Adams. We were pretty popular with the college crowd and we toured all over Texas and New Mexico! I dropped out of school temporarily to be a rock star!

Retrospective

Looking back it’s odd to realize how many years of my life I devoted to playing bass guitar. It was a lot of fun playing, recording, touring, and generally causing havoc. I sometimes wonder if those years were a waste. I would never trade it though. The memories, the friends, and the music are all priceless. I also met my wife at a gig! So what if I started my “career” ten years after all my college buddies…it was worth it.

Passing it On

I hereby meme before all to witness, this day and henceforth, in perpetuity with no “take-backs” or crossed fingers…

1. Chris Mills
2. Zach Inglis
3. Jakob Nielsen never mind, I’m guessing he won’t respond.
4. I’ll try Milan Negovan instead! *crosses fingers*

I’m interested to read what these guys have been up to the last 1-10 years! By the way, thanks for the meme Rob!

Apple reported shipping 6,451,000 iPods during their fourth quarter ending September 24, 2005. It is predicted that 30 million iPods will sell this year. Is there any denying the spread of this infection?

The infection I’m referring to is not the page 2 *yawn* story about possible health risks surrounding iPod earbuds. It’s a real life outbreak! It entices the user to touch it; It is passed from person to person; One can be infected by sight, touch or hearing. If more than one of these senses is engaged, infection is usually unavoidable.

What Can be Done?

Nothing. Give in. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!

Art

This is what web design is all about; unique, spontaneous creation bubbling over from endless inspiration; a continuous flow of ideas, molded via your craftsmanship, into beautiful, thought provoking art. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were like that?

In my experience, art is more of a process than an event. It has beginning, a middle, and sometimes an ending. A client with unique requirements can be the impetus for blastoff, other times daily tasks can spawn a new perspective on an old idea. After birth, the idea matures and breathes; it will sometimes take on a life of it’s own. Growth is pruned, leftover pieces often becoming building blocks for future art. Others will begin to see glimpses through the artist’s eyes until eventually it becomes necessary to present the creation to the world.

Creation does not have to end at presentation. The presentation of creation is merely a snapshot of it’s existence at a given moment in time. I love relating this analogy to the web because the internet is such a rapidly evolving medium. Web design lends itself to a that medium through the need for continual adjustments to keep up with technology and to have current, relevant content. There are literally billions of possibilities remaining to be explored on the web!

Is art in web design merely the outward appearance, or is it the actions, behaviors, and responses that also exist in this pliable medium? Just a thought.

Some would argue that it is difficult to create art when you are working for a client, especially a picky, micromanager type. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of clients who trust me, and I make it a point to educate my clients about best practices on the internet regarding their business. One of my most persnickety clients was also colorblind; this turned out to be a great learning experience and opened up new ideas for me. The point is this: sometimes “limitation” is the mother of invention. If you have only a limited set of tools to work with, could you still create? Absolutely.

Science

Under the hood, what makes it tick? This is where design and development meet. Brilliant art is born from intimate knowledge of the subject and the medium. Could Michelangelo have created David without a thorough understanding of the properties of the stone he was chiselling?

The underpinning of the web consists of multiple technologies working together. While HTML is the foundation for most, it can also be XML or even just text. Add graphics (.jpg, .gif, .png) and CSS and you’ve got all the tools you need to create a visually appealing design, right? Now add in Javascript, Flash, and a multitude of server-side languages, and you’ve got a recipe for ingenious illumination, or dull disaster.

A common misnomer, perpetuated by WYSIWYG design tools (in my opinion), is that if you use these technologies you will have a great design. Having the technologies at your disposal does not make you the master of them…nor does it imply any level of knowledge about how they work. The technologies are merely tools. In the same way, owning a drum set does not make you a drummer. Study and practice are required to become master of any tools.

Communication and Functionality

The essence of art is communication; the essence of science is functionality. These two concepts blend together to become web design and development. One without the other is depreciated.

Synergy – the bonus that is achieved when things work together harmoniously.

Mark Twain

Synergy is what I strive for in web design and development; form and function coming together in a beautiful complimentary singularity.

One of my favorite languages to code in is PHP. PHP is a “server-side” language. This means it does all of the work on the server and then sends the results to your browser. There are a specific set of rules that must be followed carefully or else the code will not work. It occurred to me that this mirrors some of my life experience. Here are 5 life lessons that can be illustrated by the simple rules of PHP.

Look before you leap.

Sound advice. Don’t take any action before checking out what you’re getting into. PHP provides a basic mechanism for dealing with this life principle.

if (condition) {
// if the condition is true, do this
} else {
// here is your fallback plan!
}

How many tears would we avoid in our lives if we made a habit of running a simple if…then procedure before making a decision?

Persistence can pay off, but don’t get stuck in an infinite loop.

We’ve all heard about the value of working hard, but what about working smart? Just like life, PHP provides an easy tool that allows you to pound away at a single task until it is complete.

while (condition) {
// continue repeating this until the condition is met.
}

There is a catch though! Not every task can be completed by simply pounding away at it. It’s up to you to make sure you don’t get stuck in a cycle with no way to get out of it!

Cookies can help make new friends.

PHP allows you to give cookies to visitors to your website! A cookie is a small file deposited on the visitors computer that helps you remember who they are and what they like. If you’ve given a visitor cookies in the past, it is possible to instantly recall information about them. Your new friend’s favorite color, their name, or anything else they might have told you about the first time they visited, can be used to customize their experience when they return. Remember, not everyone likes cookies, so don’t be forceful (they are your friends after all). They are usually very nice in moderation though!

Remember lessons learned from past trials.

PHP has a built in way to journal any hurdles you overcome and provide notes to yourself if you ever come across the same problem again. Often, like life, writing code is a bit of a puzzle. It requires creatively putting together the simple rules of code (life) into steps that will ultimately yield results and, handling any unexpected circumstances that could rudely interrupt your well thought out plan at the wrong moment. What a great idea, learn from our victories!

Have some constants in your life.

Writing code is a lot like solving a math problem. One of the challenges of manipulating complicating problems is juggling all of the variables. Variables are nice because they allow you to change what they represent. However, this is also the tricky part; the more variable you have, the more complicated it is to keep track of the value of each one. Sometimes, a variable will inadvertently be changed to something it shouldn’t, and will compromise the integrity of the output. Thankfully, PHP (and life) allow us to use constants. Constants represent values that don’t change! While this will sometimes make your puzzles more challenging to solve, the end result is that having constants in your equation will give a firm foundation for reliable output.